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Gordon’s Personal View of The Early Days of Digital…

Gordon’s Personal View of The Early Days of Digital…. DECWorld, 16 June 2001 Gordon Bell gbell@microsoft.com http://www.research.microsoft.com/~gbell. Whirlwind c1953 … 1st generation, 16-bit word; 4 KB memory; 8 K drum.

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Gordon’s Personal View of The Early Days of Digital…

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  1. Gordon’s Personal View ofThe Early Days of Digital… DECWorld, 16 June 2001 Gordon Bell gbell@microsoft.com http://www.research.microsoft.com/~gbell

  2. Whirlwind c1953 … 1st generation, 16-bit word; 4 KB memory; 8 K drum Whirlwind begot TX-O/TX-2 begot DEC PDP-1 Real time, first compiler, ECAD, text editor

  3. Whirlwind console, drum, 1 Kw core

  4. SAGE (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment) Operator Console

  5. TX-0 Console c1959… one of the first transistorized personal computers Speech, handwriting recognition, neuro data analysis, etc. Interactive editors, debuggers, etc.

  6. MIT Speech group with TX-0, c1959.

  7. DEC Computer before PDP-11 1957 1961 1963

  8. DEC PDP-1 c1961

  9. DEC PDP-1 c1961Being testedBuilding ?

  10. PDP-1 Production Line c 1962

  11. Livermore Labs machine: they bought one of everything in our virtual catalog

  12. Wes Clark & LINC c1962: Personal computers for bio-medical research

  13. PDP-4

  14. PDP-5 c1964: PDP-8 predecessor Process control, real time experiments. Fortran ran in 4 K, 12 bit words

  15. PDP- 5:as pulseheightanalyzer

  16. PDP-8 Modules

  17. PDP-8: first mini First OEM computer. OS/8 (from timesharing) begot RT-11 begot CPM

  18. Gbell as old man,with LINC and PDP-8 c1965

  19. PDP-8/E

  20. PDP-8 and Linc Family Tree

  21. PDP-8 12 bit word price (t)

  22. Timesharing: giving everyone their own, low cost, personal computer

  23. PDP-6 with GB at the console

  24. PDP-6 c1965 : First commercial time shared computer. Gbell & Alan Kotok

  25. PDP-6 team

  26. Gordon’s Packaging Folly: double sided connectors for PDP-6

  27. PDP-6/10/ DECsystem 10/20 family tree

  28. Minis and timesharing contributions • Editors, calculators, interactive debuggers, interpreters, including mail and chat from timesharing • Minis established embedded computers, importance of I/O to interconnect anything • SpaceWar demonstrated interactive graphics and settled lots of later law suits • OEM Distribution and marketing model… Harlan Anderson, after Tecumseh • SCO’s all-in-one module and computer handbooks…

  29. Equating yourself to the average“user/buyer” is risky . . . unless you’re an average user like me. G. Bell

  30. Why didn’t Digital lead personal computers? That’s another story…

  31. There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home. Ken OlsenPresident, Chairman and founder of Digital, 1977

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